#ClassicsaDay #Curseofthe9th Week 4
By Ralph Graves
This month the Classics a Day team takes on the “Curse of the 9th.” Beethoven wrote his ninth symphony and died. Since then, the Curse of the Ninth has circulated through the classical music world. Mahler sincerely believed in it. He wrote nine numbered symphonies and died. As did Bruckner, Schubert, Dvorak, and Vaughan Williams.
But how real is the curse? The Classics a Day team challenges folks to post Symphony No. 10s by composers who followed Beethoven.
And it turns out there are quite a lot of them.
Here are my posts for the fourth and final week of #Curseofthe9th.
10/23/23 Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000), Symphony No. 10 “Vahaken”
Hovhaness wrote his 9th symphony in 1949. But he was just getting warmed up. His 10th was composed in 1959. Hovhaness would write 67 before his death in 2000.
10/24/23 Andrzej Panufnik (1914–1991): Symphony No. 10
Panufnik composed his tenth symphony just two years after completing his 9th. He revised both works in 1990, just a year before his death.
10/25/23 David Diamond (1915-2005): Symphony No. 10
American composer David Diamond wrote his 9th Symphony in 1985. He wrote his 10th two years later and completed one more before his death. Diamond discarded his first two symphonies from the 1930s. Technically, his 9th was actually the 11th he composed.
10/26/23 Havergal Brian (1876-1972) (Symphony No. 10 in C minor
Brian finished his 9th Symphony in 1951, and his 10th two years later. He would compose a total of 32. Brian’s best known for his massive 1st symphony, 105 minutes of playing time (the others are considerably shorter).
10/27/23 Julian Rontgen (1855-1932): Symphony No. 10 in D major “Waltz Symphony”
This Dutch composer wrote 25 symphonies in all. Many were quite short, and several were written over the course of just a few weeks.
Next month:
